Investigating Attitudes towards Financial Literacy in Schools: An Impact Study

The global economic downturn has highlighted the damaging impact of financial illiteracy on individuals, families, communities and entire nations. The need to teach people how to spend, save, invest, borrow and manage money wisely has become more important than ever. It has also raised questions about what it takes to effectively engage people and change their financial behavior. This study is part of a larger study in Singapore schools to study the impact of an initiative to equip teacher’s with pedagogical skills and knowledge to integrate financial literacy messages in day-to-day lessons and foster a socially responsible attitude towards managing money to create a financially sustainable society. This study provides insights into how financial education can be integrated into classroom lessons in schools to deal with challenges that living in modern society presents

Learning environment associated with use of mixed mode delivery model among secondary business studies students in Singapore

At many teacher education institutes around the world, preservice teachers are empowered to use pedagogical tools and strategies that engage their students. We used a modified version of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) to evaluate the effectiveness of a pedagogical model known as the Mixed Mode Delivery (MMD) model in terms of the CLES’s five scales of personal relevance, uncertainty, critical voice, shared control and negotiation. Comparisons were made between 2,216 secondary school students taught by the preservice teachers in an MMD group and 991 students in a control group in terms of the relative magnitudes of the gap between the actual and preferred learning environment in students’ school classrooms. The findings supported the positive impact of using MMD in terms of students’ perceptions of their classroom environments for all CLES scales

"Because my parents say so" : children's monetary decision making

The aim of this research is to understand children's monetary decision making. Using a qualitative approach, we interviewed 136 primary five students randomly selected from 6 primary schools in Singapore. In this brief report, we highlight several themes that emerged from our analysis which explains students' decision making processes when money is concerned. We also found that parents are the main or only guidance to the students in understanding personal financial management. Such findings may have implications for subsequent instructional interventions to improve students' financial literacy

AMBIENTES DE APRENDISAJE Y TECNOLOGIA: los desafios de los professores em la construción del pensamento crítico em escuelas de Singapura

O presente artigo é parte de uma pesquisa realizada com alunos em formação docente e  estudantes do ensino secundário de escolas públicas de Cingapura e teve como principal objetivo investigar como os ambientes de aprendizagem, que integram  tecnologías, são utilizados neste nível de ensino. A investigação levantou questões consideradas desafiadoras nas práticas discentes e, para tanto, utilizou-se do questionário CMLES, desenvolvido por Maor e Fraser (2005), analisando as respostas de forma a compreender se o uso das tecnologias auxilia na criação de um ambiente de aprendizagem construtivista.  Em síntese, os resultados demonstraram que, na ótica dos alunos, comparada a dos profesores, é inferior das perspectivas criadas pelos docentes. Além disso, conseguiu-se evidenciar que nem sempre o uso das tecnologias leva o aluno ao desenvolvimento de um pensamento crítico. Assim, de acordo com as premissas de um ambiente de aprendizagem construtivista para que isso ocorra, o professor precisará refletir sobre os tipos de atividades aplicadas e como elas irão auxiliar no processo de aprendizagem.The present article is part of a research carried out with students of teachers’ education and students from high schools of public schools from Singapore and had as main objective to investigate how the learning environments, that integrate technologies are used in this level of education. The research raised questions considered challenging in student practices and for this purpose the CMLES questionnaire developed by Maor and Fraser (2005) was applied to  analyzed the answers in order to understand if the use of technologies helps in the creation of a constructivist learning environment The results showed that the school students point of view when  compared to the teachers, it is inferior to the perspectives created by the teachers. In addition, it has been shown that not always the use of technology leads the student to develop critical thinking. Thus, according to the premises of a constructivist learning environment for this to occur, the teacher will need to reflect on the types of activities applied and how they will aid in the learning process.El presente artículo hizo parte de una investigación realizada con alumnos en formación docente y estudiantes de enseñanza secundaria de escuelas públicas de Singapura y tuvo como principal objetivo investigar cómo los ambientes de aprendizaje, que integran tecnologías, son utilizados en este nivel de enseñanza. La investigación planteó cuestiones consideradas desafiantes en las prácticas discentes y se utilizó el cuestionario CMLES, desarrollado por Maor y Fraser (2005), analizando las respuestas para comprender si el uso de las tecnologías auxilian en la creación de un ambiente de aprendizaje constructivista. En síntesis, los resultados demostraron que, en la óptica de los alumnos, comparada a la de los profesores, es inferior de las perspectivas creadas por los docentes. Además, se logró evidenciar que no siempre el uso de las tecnologías lleva el alumno al desarrollo de un pensamiento crítico. Así, de acuerdo con las premisas de un ambiente de aprendizaje constructivista para que eso ocurra, el profesor necesitará reflexionar sobre los tipos de actividades aplicadas y cómo ellas auxiliar en el proceso de aprendizaj

Teachers' intention to teach financial literacy in Singapore : a path analysis of an extended Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)

Financial education is an important life skill and successful implementation of financial literacy (FL) education hinges on several factors, such as school management's support, training of teachers and resources for teaching and learning. This study aims to examine the efficacy of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to explain teachers' intention to teach financial literacy. One hundred and forty-seven teachers completed a self-report survey questionnaire after they had attended a financial literacy programme. Results revealed that, among the variables included in the study, behavioural intention was significantly influenced by attitude and perceived behavioural control, which were, in turn, influenced by perceived usefulness, perceived ease of learning, and facilitating conditions in varying degrees. Overall, the extended Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) explains 58.5% of the variance in behavioural intention to teach financial literacy among teachers in Singapore

Children's use of meta-cognition in solving everyday problems : children's monetary decision-making

The purpose of this study was to understand how children use meta-cognition in their everyday problem-solving, particularly making monetary decisions. A particular focus was to identify components of meta-cognition, such as regulation of cognition and knowledge of cognition observed in children’s monetary decision-making process, the roles of meta-cognition in children’s monetary decision-making process, and the emerging factors that help to explain children’s monetary decision-making processes. Data were collected from 136 mixed ability fifth-grade students (typically 10 years of age) from six different government primary schools in Singapore through focus group and one-to-one interviews. Using grounded theory, it was found that children’s monetary decision-making is a complex process, that children often reflect upon unwise decisions and unpleasant experiences, and that parental involvement was an influential factor in their children’s decision-making

Children’s use of meta-cognition in solving everyday problems : children’s monetary decision-making

The purpose of this study was to understand how children use meta-cognition in their everyday problem-solving, particularly making monetary decisions. A particular focus was to identify components of meta-cognition, such as regulation of cognition and knowledge of cognition observed in children’s monetary decision-making process, the roles of meta-cognition in children’s monetary decision making process, and the emerging factors that help to explain children’s monetary decision-making processes. Data were collected from 136 mixed ability fifth-grade students (typically 10 years of age) from six different government primary schools in Singapore through focus group and one-to-one interviews. Using grounded theory, it was found that children’s monetary decision-making is a complex process, that children often reflect upon unwise decisions and unpleasant experiences, and that parental involvement was an influential factor in their children’s decision-making